Here's another totally free solution that works anywhere. Install a GPS app on your cell phone then ride the train. I use mine every now and then just for kicks, to see how fast we are (or are not) going.

I went out to Grayland station today to photograph the 1:05 Hiawatha out of Union Station. While waiting, a crew of men wearing orange came and started to inspect parts of the platform and surrounding work on the soil. I did not want them to see me photographing a train so I left. Chicagoans have always been a very suspicious bunch, even before 9/11.

Downtrack I found a cul-de-sac on W. Byron St. that ended at the track right-of-way. The Amtrak came by and, "clickity click." There it was, the joint, the first noise, just a block and a half downtrack from Grayland.

A short few seconds after that, the sound of a very loud single diamond - sound no. 2. I think that diamond makes more noise than the triple diamond of my troubles, and I've listened to both from the outside. So thanks, Roadmaster, for your keen investigation.

There is an important lesson here: the worth of objective investigation and mathematics, and the disgrace of bias and prejudice. I came into this thing convinced that noise no.2 had to be the triple diamond. I was so biased, my vision so colored, that I did not even notice the ridiculous fact the triple diamond is a mile away and probably cannot be heard at all. I stand in awe of science, that is is our best hope for discovering what is reality, and what is not.